Here are the promised pictures of the making of our pond. The second picture shows the marginal end nearest the camera which was treated separately. The last picture was taken only 3-4 weeks after we began, thanks to an excellent take of the grass seed.
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Based in Sussex, I garden to encourage as many birds to my garden as possible.
when did you introduce the native oxygenators please? With my new pond I am also planning on not planting anything until spring for the same reason, but if you had success with your oxygenators, I might give that a shot...
Hi DC, we put the oxygenators in in early/mid September. I think now might be too late as growth has stopped as it's winter ....but I am not an expert. I bought my oxygenators from Devon Pond Plants as I didn't know of a local source; didn't want to buy from the local GC as all their pond plants were covered in blanket weed!. Devon Pond Plants seem good. I am pretty sure if you emailed them they would advise you whether or not now is too late.
Very interested in all this as I'm doing a pond myself. And £85 for liner and underlay sounds much better than £250+ for epdm or butyl. Especially if it's quite flexible and easy to install.
Going to plant ours in spring. But I'll be building a wee bridge over it this winter first
Oxygenators will be in growth from late spring ... That's when they'll be available from good suppliers and they'll establish quickly at that time of year. Make sure you choose native species ... There are some introduced varieties now causing real problems to wildlife.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Oxygenators will be in growth from late spring ... That's when they'll be available from good suppliers and they'll establish quickly at that time of year. Make sure you choose native species ... There are some introduced varieties now causing real problems to wildlife.
That last sentence is true And causing real problless for the Environment Agency in the wider habitat. We used only the native Hornwort and Milfoil. The RSPB and Wildlife Trusts sites pond pages, as mentioned earlier, are excellent for naming native plants.
Based in Sussex, I garden to encourage as many birds to my garden as possible.
Well, it had been a bit of an eyesore. Previously the area was a farm slurry pit. We had tried to make a natural clay pond from it but it didn't work. I think there were tree roots and rabbit tunnels which caused it to leak. Also the sides were too steep and it was too deep as well. Really looking forward to planting it up next spring. A friend cleared out her pond and gave me some flag iris, bogbean and a lily which are in but I will buy more natives next spring.
Based in Sussex, I garden to encourage as many birds to my garden as possible.
So, how deep did you end up making the pond, Redwing? It doesn't look very deep but it might be deceptive?
We can get seriously cold winters with prolonged spells of minus temperatures, so we dug down quite a way at its deepest - almost a metre, I think. But the rest is shelved at different levels and the gentle slope at the other end houses the beach. We were given some flag irises from a friend too, but while most things will be planted in a layer of subsoil, the flags will stay in baskets to hold them from taking over.
The schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 has a list of invasive non-natives to avoid, if anyone is interested in not having their fledgling pond being taken over in short order. I only found this by accident and I have to dispose of newly planted rosa rugosa and cotoneaster horizontalis as we live within a national park and I can't guarantee their containment. Got to say though, am gutted about the roses - the smell is divine!
On the rhs website there is clear information about the contoneaster's schedule 9 status but nowhere mentions rugosa. I wonder why? ?
The maximum depth is about .75m towards the middle back. There is a shelf running from the far end and about half way along both sides of the pond which is about 20-25cm deep. In between it slopes towards the deepest part. In the foreground of the pond it gradually slopes to nothing. We hope this gives all possible depths to encourage the maximum number of species. The log pile on the right is for hibernating amphibians; we actually found two toads while we were making the pond. We thought .75m would be deep enough to stop it freezing in southern England. It sounds like you live in a colder place so probably right to make yours deeper. We also have a rainwater recapture system which we built in (this project has been a long time planning!) and an overflow outlet towards the bottom right. On the other side of the hedge is a ditch which it drains into. Hopefully this will keep it well oxygenated. It's all so exciting. This is our second pond. The previous one was in another garden and was much smaller and less a wildlife pond than this one.
Good luck with yours.
Based in Sussex, I garden to encourage as many birds to my garden as possible.
Daisydot - you could try the Rugosa 'Roseraie de la Haie', it is double flowered and smells the best of them all but mine has never set any hips in 30+ years.
I'm in a National park too, but anything that dares show its head the wrong side of the fence gets eaten by sheep! Sometimes that happens to things inside the fence too
Posts
Here are the promised pictures of the making of our pond. The second picture shows the marginal end nearest the camera which was treated separately. The last picture was taken only 3-4 weeks after we began, thanks to an excellent take of the grass seed.
.
Hi DC, we put the oxygenators in in early/mid September. I think now might be too late as growth has stopped as it's winter ....but I am not an expert. I bought my oxygenators from Devon Pond Plants as I didn't know of a local source; didn't want to buy from the local GC as all their pond plants were covered in blanket weed!. Devon Pond Plants seem good. I am pretty sure if you emailed them they would advise you whether or not now is too late.
http://www.devonpondplants.co.uk/
Very interested in all this as I'm doing a pond myself. And £85 for liner and underlay sounds much better than £250+ for epdm or butyl. Especially if it's quite flexible and easy to install.
Going to plant ours in spring. But I'll be building a wee bridge over it this winter first
Oxygenators will be in growth from late spring ... That's when they'll be available from good suppliers and they'll establish quickly at that time of year. Make sure you choose native species ... There are some introduced varieties now causing real problems to wildlife.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
That last sentence is true And causing real problless for the Environment Agency in the wider habitat. We used only the native Hornwort and Milfoil. The RSPB and Wildlife Trusts sites pond pages, as mentioned earlier, are excellent for naming native plants.
Redwing, that looks like a fabulous pond and the setting is gorgeous! You must so hate having that to look at it all!
??
Well, it had been a bit of an eyesore. Previously the area was a farm slurry pit. We had tried to make a natural clay pond from it but it didn't work. I think there were tree roots and rabbit tunnels which caused it to leak. Also the sides were too steep and it was too deep as well. Really looking forward to planting it up next spring. A friend cleared out her pond and gave me some flag iris, bogbean and a lily which are in but I will buy more natives next spring.
So, how deep did you end up making the pond, Redwing? It doesn't look very deep but it might be deceptive?
We can get seriously cold winters with prolonged spells of minus temperatures, so we dug down quite a way at its deepest - almost a metre, I think. But the rest is shelved at different levels and the gentle slope at the other end houses the beach. We were given some flag irises from a friend too, but while most things will be planted in a layer of subsoil, the flags will stay in baskets to hold them from taking over.
The schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 has a list of invasive non-natives to avoid, if anyone is interested in not having their fledgling pond being taken over in short order. I only found this by accident and I have to dispose of newly planted rosa rugosa and cotoneaster horizontalis as we live within a national park and I can't guarantee their containment. Got to say though, am gutted about the roses - the smell is divine!
On the rhs website there is clear information about the contoneaster's schedule 9 status but nowhere mentions rugosa. I wonder why? ?
The maximum depth is about .75m towards the middle back. There is a shelf running from the far end and about half way along both sides of the pond which is about 20-25cm deep. In between it slopes towards the deepest part. In the foreground of the pond it gradually slopes to nothing. We hope this gives all possible depths to encourage the maximum number of species. The log pile on the right is for hibernating amphibians; we actually found two toads while we were making the pond. We thought .75m would be deep enough to stop it freezing in southern England. It sounds like you live in a colder place so probably right to make yours deeper. We also have a rainwater recapture system which we built in (this project has been a long time planning!) and an overflow outlet towards the bottom right. On the other side of the hedge is a ditch which it drains into. Hopefully this will keep it well oxygenated. It's all so exciting. This is our second pond. The previous one was in another garden and was much smaller and less a wildlife pond than this one.
Good luck with yours.
Daisydot - you could try the Rugosa 'Roseraie de la Haie', it is double flowered and smells the best of them all but mine has never set any hips in 30+ years.
I'm in a National park too, but anything that dares show its head the wrong side of the fence gets eaten by sheep! Sometimes that happens to things inside the fence too
Last edited: 06 December 2017 17:35:56